Native American Issues

There are more than 560 federally recognized Indian tribes. On Indian reservations, poverty is still commonplace and tribes face a number of social and economic challenges. The scope of the United States responsibilities to Native Americans includes a wide range of services provided by more than 20 federal agencies.

Federally recognized tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the United States and are eligible to receive certain protections, services, and benefits by virtue of their unique status as Indian tribes. Both the Department of the Interiors Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service estimate their respective service populations to be about 2 million people. The estimated governmentwide funding for Native American programs has been about $19 billion annually.

In some cases, multiple agencies are involved in providing protections, benefits, and services for Native Americans. For example:

tribal contracting under the Small Business Administrations 8(a) program (GAO-12-84),